Covenant Bomb

The Master Chief is seen about to detonate the Covenant bomb.

The Covenant uses an Antimatter Bomb (similar to the tactical nuclear weapons used by the UNSC) to take down large structures or targets. The bomb is about 2 meters long, 1 meter high and is covered in very large spikes that keep the bomb in place. These bombs are equipped with timers on their detonators and contain antimatter. Antimatter is extremely unstable, any contact between destabilized antimatter and normal matter causes an instant, massive explosion of gamma rays. However, it is unknown how the antimatter is contained, because if the container was normal matter, it would simply detonate instantly, while if it was antimatter, it would explode on contact with outside normal matter.

It is a larger version of the Antimatter Charge. The Covenant carry these on their ships, likely for use by the ships' Elite Rangers. They are capable of destroying entire ships and even space stations, an example being the MAC stations above Earth. The bomb first appeared in Halo 2 level Cairo Station, the Covenant successfully destroying Malta Station & Athens Station, but failing to destroy Cairo Station. If placed near a reactor, the bomb is even capable of destroying an Assault Carrier, as was done by the Master Chief in Halo 2 during the First Battle of Earth.

Trivia

• It is referred to by Jason Jones of Bungie as the "Giant Covenant Space Pickle".
• An antimatter particle colliding with a matter particle releases 100% of the energy contained within the particles, while an H-bomb (Hydrogen Bomb) releases only about 7% of this energy. This gives a clue to how effective and powerful this force really is.
• It is used particularly for boarding, mainly to disable defenses or ships that are slowing down Covenant assaults, like Orbital MAC Platforms.
• It appears in Halo Zero as well.

Sources

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